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Great articles about cycling, equality, infrastructure and more

I am always interested in the wider debates about how to get more people cycling, in the UK, because that’s where I’m based, and elsewhere. I’m especially interested in how these are framed – my work history includes a lot of work on areas of deprivation, increasing equality and so on, so I’m especially interested in work that looks at the way issues of gender, ethnicity and diversity intersect, as well as poverty/wealth. So I love the work of Dr Rachel Aldred, a Senior Lecturer in Transport at the University of Westminster who, among other things, has set up the Near Miss Project which is pretty self explanatory.

Her latest piece on her site is ‘Culture, Equity and Cycling Infrastructure‘, and it has so much information about how different groups using cycling in different ways, and issues that need to be tackled at all kinds of levels. I especially appreciate the fact she places infrastructure at the heart of it all, because that chimes with my own personal experiences. I was going to pull out some quotes out to illustrate it, but really, you should click through and read it all, it packs a lot of interconnected information in, with a really engaging mix of academic and personal background.

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Coming from a different direction is one of my favourite cycling bloggers, Lindsay Barlow, whose piece ‘Let’s talk about bike-ism: You don’t get to judge me for my Lycra‘ has a serendipitous link to Aldred’s article through the conversations about cycling stigma and infrastructure. Lindsay talks about her frustrations at the negativity and judgement both from non-cyclists and media and from within parts of the cycling community, and I love her very personal framing. There’s anger there, especially talking about the death of a member of her cycling community, but it’s that kind of anger that can be a catalyst for change, and that’s really important.

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Of course you can follow both of these writers on twitter at @RachelAldred and @TourdeLindsayB. And if you, like me, are interested in women’s participation in cycling, or women and sport in general, some more things, which you have probably seen already, but they’re worth repeating:

An obituary for Eileen Gray, a British cyclist who founded the Women’s Cycle Racing Association, and was a key campaigner in enabling women to race internationally

Sport England’s recent presentation on their research about how to get more women into sport, Go where women are. I was a bit frustrated with how it glossed over financial/travel issues, but aside from that, it’s full of really strong messages.

Sport England’sThis Girl Can campaign to get more women and girls involved in sport, referenced in Aldred’s piece and the Sport England report, which is doing some really interesting work, especially around media images of women and sport.